May 13, 1965 (20 pages)

an NEVADA COUNTY NUGGET Eee: . naa Ov, iret: . aan Viet . aan, Uieny . “Safe CONSE fn aoa Nigordy EDITORIAL GRASS VALLEY SHOULD. START ASKING ABOUT THE FREEWAY DESIGN Grass Valley city officials and interested citizens last week gota tentative commitment from state highway officials that they would try to speed up construction of the Grass Valley segment of the freeway. The city officials and local merchants were feeling very pleased with themselves after an inspection tour and dinner with the visitors from the state ~\ department of public works. They should feel proud of themselves for they had, through cooperation and hard work, managed to get a commitment of sorts out of the state. This is no mean feat. But this is also no time to feel smug about the whole thing. Grass Valley will get its segment of the freeway. It may bea year earlier than the existing schedule or even sooner depending on the availability of money and how hard the city.continues to press for it. Now that the city has established communications with the state highway people andreceived an indication that they_are willing to try to push the project ahead, this is the time to start asking questions about how this freeway is going to look. The route is adopted, but the design isnot. Nowisthetime to start asking questions andto keepasking questions until satisfactoryanswers are obtained. The start of the Grass Valley segment of the freeway, evenwith a stepped up construction schedule, is still a few years off. This is good in a way for it will give the city time to get a freeway that will relieve the traffic problem without destroying the looks of the city. In Nevada City maps, drawings, and renderings from almost -every angle were shown at public meetings and in the public press. Nevada City passed a billboard ordinance which permitted landscaping of the freeway. Nevada City also fought for and obtained changes in designtofitthis landscaping plan and signed an agreement with the state pinning them down to the plan. Still there are people who stop their cars toshake their fists at the clearing crews andcry, "Oh, I didn't know this would happen!" But there will be many more such people in Grass Valley, where there has been nodiscussionatall of design or landscaping. There won't be any such discussion either unless the city officials and the businessmen and citizens interested in what that freeway will dotothe life and looks of the city start asking questions. Some may think it is too early in the game for such things on the Grass Valley segment, but it is not. Those whocare about designand landscaping should get to work early, before they are subjected to the refrain, "They're delaying the freeway." They must be willingtoask questions and willing to be persistent at all levels from the office of the district ‘engineer right on up to the Senate. What hasbeen accomplished already by the city shows that this sort of effort can succeed, but it can not be stressed too strongly that last week was only the beginning. IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN THE FOREST SERVICE FEE PROGRAM IS A SOUND IDEA The Forest Service last week announced tnat it will start charging fees in designated areas this summer. We would like to join the group of conservationists and newspapers across the land in praising the program. The fee program is part of the Conservation Act of 1965 which sets aside 60 per cent of the receipts for return to the states for development of state parks. Two fifths of the state's 60 per cent shall be equally divided among the 50 states and the balance on the basis of need. > A good portion of Nevada County is in the Taho National Forest. There are also large areas of national forest land in neighboring Sierra, Yuba, Placer and El Dorado Counties. The National Forest and its multiple use concept is a part of our life here. What happens to and in our National Forests is of vital importance to us from both an economic and an esthetic point of view. The new law provides that the park user may purchase an annual sticker for $7 which will give him entry into all of the designated fee areas. One has a choice of paying a daily use fee for each area ranging from 25 to 50 cents, getting mad about the whole thing and staying home» or paying $7 a year and buying: a ticket to some of the finest recreation areas inthe world. The details of the program are explained elsewhere in this issue. Wehear a lot around here from the “! want to do as damned well please" and the "it's another program of government intervention" groups and this will be a good opportunity for them to put up or shutup. It will be an opportunity for people to participate in maintaining and improving what we have in our state with their own money--Nevada County money spent here and returned here to be used again in the economy, As far as we are concermed we agree with the sentiment expressed in an editorial in the Eugene, Ore., ° Register-Guard on this subject. They headed their comments--"Pay Untle? Gladly!" esoeeeoe ee 8 & 8 STILL IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN is this social note that Eda O. Hicks of San Bruno celebrated her 100th birthday on May 4. Whois Eda O. Hicks? She is one of the survivors of Nevada City's and ‘California's golden era. Born in Nevada City in 1865, she was a daughter of a Swiss chemist named James J. Ott. He established an assay office in Nevada City in 1850 and made the famous assay of the fabulous Comstock Lode ore which made the Hearsts and a lot of other people very wealthy. Being Ott's daughter is enough for history buffs, but Mrs. Hicks was also related through her father to another Swiss named Johann August Sutter. Sutter was the unfortunate empire builder who happened to own the mill where gold was found precipitating the 49er rush west. Eda-Ott was sent to France by her parents and then to Switzerland to complete her education. She later married Nevada City mining man, Thomas Hicks. We would like to wish Mrs, Hicks a happy second century. eeee#e2ees8t8e 8 8 @ 8 WORD WAS RELEASED last week that Formica Corporation, a subsidiary of American Cyanamid Co., would local a major new plant in Western Placer County. In announcing the news, Robert Radovich, chairman of the Placer County Board of Supervisors, noted that the county was requested to furnish detailed information on special districts, taxes, planning, zoning, geology, assessment practices, government financing, county government policy and water supplies. According to Radovich, the advanced planning by the County and the ability to demonstrate that the answers to future problems were at hand helped to convince the firm to locate in that county. The county's ability to produce and deliver water was also a major factor in the selection. When people here complain about the tax situation and also ask why we need planning, they should take a look at the situation in Placer County, Placer County is way ahead of us in the field of planning and it is beginning to pay off for them. eseeoeee@eee ee @ WE HAVE BEEN chastised for calling Nevada City cartoonist, Dan O'Neill a “funny man” last week in this column. Ok, Dan, have it your own way. You're not funny. CALIFORNIA WE ARE ALL POLITICIANS BUT FEW ARE EFFECTIVE We can deal ettectively with our environment outy if each of us recognizes that he has a political role to play. Everyone is in some sense a politician. We are all involved in the politics of our environment. Even when we sit back and make no objection to a zoning change which will hurt our community, we have made a political decision. By not acting, we have encouraged special interests to override community interests, and we have encouraged our local government to play ball with special interests. Every---Don Hoagland 00 1983nN AjunoD epeAsn*** G96T ‘ET Aew**

an NEVADA COUNTY NUGGET Eee: . naa Ov, iret: . aan Viet . aan, Uieny . “Safe CONSE fn aoa Nigordy EDITORIAL GRASS VALLEY SHOULD. START ASKING ABOUT THE FREEWAY DESIGN Grass Valley city officials and interested citizens last week gota tentative commitment from state highway officials that they would try to speed up construction of the Grass Valley segment of the freeway. The city officials and local merchants were feeling very pleased with themselves after an inspection tour and dinner with the visitors from the state ~\ department of public works. They should feel proud of themselves for they had, through cooperation and hard work, managed to get a commitment of sorts out of the state. This is no mean feat. But this is also no time to feel smug about the whole thing. Grass Valley will get its segment of the freeway. It may bea year earlier than the existing schedule or even sooner depending on the availability of money and how hard the city.continues to press for it. Now that the city has established communications with the state highway people andreceived an indication that they_are willing to try to push the project ahead, this is the time to start asking questions about how this freeway is going to look. The route is adopted, but the design isnot. Nowisthetime to start asking questions andto keepasking questions until satisfactoryanswers are obtained. The start of the Grass Valley segment of the freeway, evenwith a stepped up construction schedule, is still a few years off. This is good in a way for it will give the city time to get a freeway that will relieve the traffic problem without destroying the looks of the city. In Nevada City maps, drawings, and renderings from almost -every angle were shown at public meetings and in the public press. Nevada City passed a billboard ordinance which permitted landscaping of the freeway. Nevada City also fought for and obtained changes in designtofitthis landscaping plan and signed an agreement with the state pinning them down to the plan. Still there are people who stop their cars toshake their fists at the clearing crews andcry, "Oh, I didn't know this would happen!" But there will be many more such people in Grass Valley, where there has been nodiscussionatall of design or landscaping. There won't be any such discussion either unless the city officials and the businessmen and citizens interested in what that freeway will dotothe life and looks of the city start asking questions. Some may think it is too early in the game for such things on the Grass Valley segment, but it is not. Those whocare about designand landscaping should get to work early, before they are subjected to the refrain, "They're delaying the freeway." They must be willingtoask questions and willing to be persistent at all levels from the office of the district ‘engineer right on up to the Senate. What hasbeen accomplished already by the city shows that this sort of effort can succeed, but it can not be stressed too strongly that last week was only the beginning. IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN THE FOREST SERVICE FEE PROGRAM IS A SOUND IDEA The Forest Service last week announced tnat it will start charging fees in designated areas this summer. We would like to join the group of conservationists and newspapers across the land in praising the program. The fee program is part of the Conservation Act of 1965 which sets aside 60 per cent of the receipts for return to the states for development of state parks.

Two fifths of the state's 60 per cent shall be equally divided among the 50 states and the balance on the basis of need. > A good portion of Nevada County is in the Taho National Forest. There are also large areas of national forest land in neighboring Sierra, Yuba, Placer and El Dorado Counties. The National Forest and its multiple use concept is a part of our life here. What happens to and in our National Forests is of vital importance to us from both an economic and an esthetic point of view. The new law provides that the park user may purchase an annual sticker for $7 which will give him entry into all of the designated fee areas. One has a choice of paying a daily use fee for each area ranging from 25 to 50 cents, getting mad about the whole thing and staying home» or paying $7 a year and buying: a ticket to some of the finest recreation areas inthe world. The details of the program are explained elsewhere in this issue. Wehear a lot around here from the “! want to do as damned well please" and the "it's another program of government intervention" groups and this will be a good opportunity for them to put up or shutup. It will be an opportunity for people to participate in maintaining and improving what we have in our state with their own money--Nevada County money spent here and returned here to be used again in the economy, As far as we are concermed we agree with the sentiment expressed in an editorial in the Eugene, Ore., ° Register-Guard on this subject. They headed their comments--"Pay Untle? Gladly!" esoeeeoe ee 8 & 8 STILL IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN is this social note that Eda O. Hicks of San Bruno celebrated her 100th birthday on May 4. Whois Eda O. Hicks? She is one of the survivors of Nevada City's and ‘California's golden era. Born in Nevada City in 1865, she was a daughter of a Swiss chemist named James J. Ott. He established an assay office in Nevada City in 1850 and made the famous assay of the fabulous Comstock Lode ore which made the Hearsts and a lot of other people very wealthy. Being Ott's daughter is enough for history buffs, but Mrs. Hicks was also related through her father to another Swiss named Johann August Sutter. Sutter was the unfortunate empire builder who happened to own the mill where gold was found precipitating the 49er rush west. Eda-Ott was sent to France by her parents and then to Switzerland to complete her education. She later married Nevada City mining man, Thomas Hicks. We would like to wish Mrs, Hicks a happy second century. eeee#e2ees8t8e 8 8 @ 8 WORD WAS RELEASED last week that Formica Corporation, a subsidiary of American Cyanamid Co., would local a major new plant in Western Placer County. In announcing the news, Robert Radovich, chairman of the Placer County Board of Supervisors, noted that the county was requested to furnish detailed information on special districts, taxes, planning, zoning, geology, assessment practices, government financing, county government policy and water supplies. According to Radovich, the advanced planning by the County and the ability to demonstrate that the answers to future problems were at hand helped to convince the firm to locate in that county. The county's ability to produce and deliver water was also a major factor in the selection. When people here complain about the tax situation and also ask why we need planning, they should take a look at the situation in Placer County, Placer County is way ahead of us in the field of planning and it is beginning to pay off for them. eseeoeee@eee ee @ WE HAVE BEEN chastised for calling Nevada City cartoonist, Dan O'Neill a “funny man” last week in this column. Ok, Dan, have it your own way. You're not funny. CALIFORNIA WE ARE ALL POLITICIANS BUT FEW ARE EFFECTIVE We can deal ettectively with our environment outy if each of us recognizes that he has a political role to play. Everyone is in some sense a politician. We are all involved in the politics of our environment. Even when we sit back and make no objection to a zoning change which will hurt our community, we have made a political decision. By not acting, we have encouraged special interests to override community interests, and we have encouraged our local government to play ball with special interests. Every---Don Hoagland 00 1983nN AjunoD epeAsn*** G96T ‘ET Aew**